4 steps to grow your email list for your next launch

Your email list is a precious resource that *you* own—whereas you don't own your social platforms (and with social accounts being randomly hacked and/or shut down, your email list is even more important!). In today's episode, I'm sharing more about *why* your email list is an essential part of your launch and how you can grow it to prepare for the next one.

– Why your email list isn't about the number of people, it's about the *type* of people who join that will help it to convert.
– How inviting people onto your list is about offering value and nurturing their journey—rather than just being another email in their inbox.
– The different types of assets you need in your first launch and how they can make the next launch much easier.
– The importance of sharing free content to bridge the Magician's Gap and the calls to action you can offer.
– Why reaching the *right* people for your launch is so important and understanding the different ways you can do this.

 

 

Four steps to grow your email list for your next launch.

Let's start with the obvious place, which is why even bother to grow your email list for launches? I know that social media is a huge focus for many of you, but I'm not a huge fan of relying on it for launches.
And in fact, in some of my biggest launches, we have barely even touched social media in those launches. The main reason I love email over social is your email list is an audience that you own, whereas you don't own the social platforms. For example, if we think back, I think it was 2022 now when Instagram went down for a day or two.
And you, for two days, you could not, you couldn't even load your feed. So if you're thinking about, if you were in the middle of a launch, imagine now that Instagram has gone down for two days, that's going to potentially cost you your launch. That would really affect your launch results. I also know Instagram accounts have been randomly shut down and it's taken quite a long time to reinstate them.
So, you don't own Instagram or whatever social media platform you're relying on. So you're very much at the whim of the algorithm of their platform. With email, you're going to reach a much bigger percentage of your audience than you will on social media, because there is no algorithm dictating who you get shown to and who you don't and most social media platforms can tell when you are sharing sales-focused content and then they limit your reach of that post as a result.

The other reason why email I think is quite effective is because you have a little bit more personalization. You can write an email to the person using their first name.
You can see who clicked through to a sales page from. You can follow those people up directly. So if somebody clicks through to your sales page and your launch and then doesn't buy, you can reach out to them and ask, Hey, I noticed you clicked through and didn't buy. Do you have any questions that I can answer for you?
And you can segment those people. You can segment your audience based on what they are interested in and what they are not. For example, I always segment those who clicked through to the sales page and didn't buy. And then at the end of the launch, about seven days after we close cart, I will send out a non buyer survey asking them, what made you decide not to buy?
And I can get a little bit of insight into the hesitations that may have held them back or the questions that they might still have had.

 

4 steps to grow your email list for your launch.

 

1. Get clear on the ideal client and why they are joining your list.

You want to fill your email list with the right people, not just as many people as possible, because a small list of the right people is going to convert a lot better in your launch than a massive list of the wrong people. And we want to think, why are they signing up? Now, if you're giving the call to action of join my email list or sign up for my newsletter, that's not really compelling.
It's not really speaking to what's in it for them and their inboxes are full. They're probably thinking, well, I don't want to just get another random newsletter in my inbox. So instead we want to give some value. We want to lead with the value. What value are they getting by handing over their email address?
I love creating a launch specific lead magnet as the value. So this is some kind of freebie that they get as a return for handing over their email address. Strategically tied into the offer that you are launching. This might be a free workbook, a quiz, an ebook, a training. And in order to access this freebie, they have to give you their email address.
The key here is that it is specific to the offer you are launching. It is going to be different to the lead magnet. You might already have to grow your general business email list, so that one might be a bit more broad. This one is really specific to the offer. It's designed to attract the ideal client for this launch and going to move them closer to buying from you when you open doors.
The other way you can build your email list is to run a free masterclass or a challenge or some other kind of live event. And where someone to attend, they need to opt in. They need to give you their name and their email. And the topic of your masterclass or your challenge will ideally be designed to speak to the ideal client for your offer.
So it's going to attract the right people for your launch. The key here is to not, in this masterclass, teach everything that's in your offer. It's not even to try and teach a little bit of what's in your offer, because usually they're not ready for that. I love to use the example of dog training. Let's pretend for a minute that I am a dog trainer and I'm going to teach you how to get your dog to stop barking.
But if I go out there and I say, here's my masterclass to teach your dog to stop barking and you are out there and you're thinking, well, actually my dog's really old and I can't train an old dog. You're going to scroll past my masterclass, even though you might be the ideal client for my offer. ─ So the messaging needs to be a little bit more around how to work with your old dog. Something like that could work a little bit more effectively than how to get your dog to stop barking to somebody who doesn't believe that it's possible. The other thing that I see happening quite a lot with people who are teaching masterclasses for the first time is they give so much value that your ideal client can walk away thinking they have everything that they need to take action on their own, but they don't.
So they walk away, they try to implement it and they fail. And then that reinforces the belief of I can't do this. It's not possible for me. So by over-delivering in your free masterclass or your free challenge, you could actually be setting them up for failure. I spend an entire module in Launch Magic sharing just the strategy behind what to teach in your free masterclass so that it actually converts.

I don't love waitlists because I think a lot of the time it can be a wasted call to action. You can nurture your audience more effectively by sending them to download your launch-specific lead magnet, but you can use them strategically. So for example, everyone who is on the waitlist for Launch Magic will get an invite to a bonus waitlist-only workshop that I'm teaching for free later this month. And we'll be going through that first module of Launch Magic together for free live.

 

2. Create the relevant assets.

So create that opt in page, that thank you page, a free ebook, create your ebook, create whatever your freebie is, and then create your email nurture sequence. This is the sequence of emails that are automated that they will get after they download your freebie.
And that series of emails is not just a, Hey, I'm Steph. These are my hobbies. Nice to meet you. It's more designed to move them closer to buying from you once doors open. Now I outlined the strategy behind the emails and I have a step by step tech walkthroughs for how you can do all of this inside Launch Magic.
I teach it step by step because it's actually a lot easier than you think it is going to be. It might sound really overwhelming and techie if you've never done this before, but when you have a step by step process to follow, it becomes a lot easier. And once you have done it once, you can then replicate it for all of the future launches that you do.
It becomes a bit more of a, Oh, I know how to do this now. How can I copy across what I've done previously and apply it to this other offer that I'm launching? The first launch is the hardest that it is ever going to be. The first ever launch and also the first launch of each new offer, because you have to do all of the new things from scratch.
You have to do the sales page, the lead magnet, the emails, all of the things. But then the second time that you launch that same offer. And after that, it becomes so much easier because your sales page is created. The offer is created, the emails are written, and then it just becomes a rinse and repeat and you can focus on getting it dialed in and scaling it.

 

3. Share free content and give calls to action throughout.

So for example, if you have a podcast, you might share free content and then maybe give a call to action where they can download your launch lead magnet. And the key here is that your free content is bridging the magician's gap.
So if we come back to the dog training example, I am a dog trainer and my ideal client has an old dog and they don't believe that they can teach their old dog new tricks. So. The kind of free content that is going to bridge the magician's gap, the gap between where they are right now and where they need to be to be ready to buy is going to be content that is like talking about, you know, three myths about training your old dog or yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks, and showing them how it's possible rather than being three tips for training your dog or how to train your dog, which is the kind of go to content that people lean towards in a launch. They think if I can give you the tips and tricks, if I can give you the how to, you're going to see how valuable my content is and you're going to buy. But unfortunately, if I'm telling somebody, here's how to train your dog. And they think, well, actually my dog's too old to be trained.
Then they're just going to keep scrolling. They're not going to pay attention cause they're not ready for that kind of content. And then the free lead magnet that you give them, that's the next step for them to take action and to keep learning from you. And you can give calls to action from your short form content.
So your social media posts and also from your longer form content, whether that's a podcast, a blog, YouTube, wherever it is in a launch, I would ideally recommend having both if you can short form and long form. Long form is going to usually be more effective than short form. So if you only have the capacity for one, pick long form.
I love it. It allows me to go deep into a topic like I do on this show.

 

4, Get in front of your ideal client.

How are you reaching the right people for your launch? Social media is not a way that you are reaching people. It is slow. It's mainly a tool for nurturing your existing audience, because I don't find that the algorithms put me in front of the right people anymore.
Maybe you found something different, and if you have, great, keep doing that. But if you are struggling to get in front of the right people on social media, it's not that you're doing something wrong, it's just the way that it is now. And paid ads are one way you can get in front of new audiences, but I don't love doing this unless I've tested that launch first.
Unless I know how well it's going to convert, I don't really want to go and invest money in ads, because it could just be a waste of money. So instead, could you find some podcasts that your ideal client listens to and reach out to them and say, Hey, I would love to record an interview with you on this particular topic.
And it's going to help your listener. Because it's going to give them this, this, and this. Or could you find somebody who has a community with your ideal client in it and pitch to teach a workshop for them? And then once you are in front of that ideal client, lead with value. Teach the amazing free stuff that you have and then give them one call to action, download my freebie. That's going to get them onto your email list.

 

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